It seems that the sun is always shining on the day of CHF Open House every year, and it was no exception this year. A jovial crowd gathered promptly at the festively decorated Gramercy Party Room, having become accustomed to being treated to a light but festive luncheon buffet, beautifully presented under the watchful eye of Yin Simpson.

The year’s open house was devoted to the two signature projects of CHF: A Passage to China and the Dream of the Red Chamber Opera Project. Representatives from three organizations that have participated since the beginning spoke: Joan Brzezinski from China Center, Sophie Liu from Minhua Chorus and Melody Zhou from CAIC Travel. All three spoke movingly about the contributions Passage has made in connecting our Chinese community to the greater Minnesota community and the international shoppers at Mall of America.

After a lovely musical interlude featuring Lauren Moy on the guzheng, Pearl Bergad, chair of the Dream Committee, gave a brief synopsis of the genesis and progress of the Opera Project (http://www.chineseheritagefoundation.org/programs/dream-project.html), from the advice from the American Composers Forum at the beginning to engaging Kevin Smith as our advisor to San Francisco Opera signing on to produce the opera. It has been a fantastic journey and everyone is looking forward to its world premiere in September 2016. Karen Himle, a member of the Dream Committee, then gave an overview of the Project’s financial goals and progress and invited everyone to participate in this exciting venture.

Following concluding remarks by Margaret Wong, the appreciative audience chatted with each other and helped themselves to one last round of desserts before dispersing.